“Businesses founded by women of color are in focus now, and specifically those founded by Black women because of the racial reckoning,” said Lauren Maillian, CEO of digitalundivided. “But we want and we need to make sure that they continue to gain great investment moving forward.”
Bridging the funding gap is long overdue
The number of businesses owned by Black women grew 50% from 2014 to 2019, the fastest growth among all female entrepreneurs, according to American Express projections based on Census data. Black women make up nearly 14% of the female population in the US, but 42% of all new women-owned businesses during that time.
Many of these companies are small, local businesses and not necessarily seeking outside investors. That said, for those founders who are focused on scaling up quickly, there’s a huge gap between their entrepreneurial ambitions and the funding they’re able to secure: Black women have received less than 1% of venture capital funding, analyzed by ProjectDiane since it started tracking the data.
